Culture 1: International Literature - The Shadows of Ghadames

Book Review:

The Shadows of Ghadames

A. Bibliography

Stolz, Joelle. The Shadows of Ghadames. 2004. Delacorte. ISBN 0-385-73104-3

B. Plot Summary

Malika is a young girl on the verge of becoming a young woman. She is struggling with the customs of her homeland and learning new things from the women in her life, especially when a mysterious stranger shows up one night. As she learns more about the stranger she also starts to achieve a goal she has longed for her whole life.

C. Critical Analysis

This book is an adventure of the mind, soul, and spirit. It introduces the reader to a culture and a city, Ghadames in southern Lybia. It touches on many subjects: the cultural roles men and women play during this time and place, customs and rituals, feelings of being trapped by a culture that place limits on women, multiple marriages, fear, boldness, and finally the struggles of adolescence.

The Shadows of Ghadames is captivating and eye-opening regarding a culture that I never knew existed. Although it is a fiction story, it is based on a real city and a culture that has long since changed.

D. Book Excerpt

Book Links. Mar2005, Vol. 14 Issue 4, p28-28, 1/3p

Gr. 6-10. In the Libyan city of Ghadames at the end of the nineteenth century, Malika is dreading her twelfth birthday. That is the time when. according to her family's Berber customs, she will be close to marriageable age and confined to the world of women. In Ghadames that means restricted to the rooftops, "a city above the city, an open, sunny town for women only, where...they never talk to men." Malika longs to live beyond the segregated city and travel, like her father a trader. But the wider world comes to Malika after her father's tow wives agree to harbor, in secret, a wounded stranger. The story of an outsider who unsettles a household and helps a young person to grow is certainly nothing new, and some are purposeful. But Stolz invigorates her tale with elegant prose and a deft portrayal of a girl verging on adolescence. The vivid backdrop is intoxicating, but the story's universal concerns about adult customs, and a growing interest in a world beyond family. - Gillian Engberg

E. Connections

Marston, Elsa. 2005. Figs and Fate: Stories About Growing Up in the Arab World Today. ISBN 0-8076-1554-4.

Osborn, Mary Pope. 2005. Season of the Sandstorms. ISBN 0-375-83031-6.

Temple Frances. 1995. The Ramsay Scallop. ISBN 0-064-40601-6.